The present invention relates generally to the field of transducer arrays, and more specifically to engineering transducer arrays.
Transducers are devices that transform input signals of one form into output signals of a different form. Commonly used transducers include light sensors, heat sensors, and acoustic sensors. An example of an acoustic sensor is an ultrasonic transducer. In ultrasound devices, the transducers transform signals of electrical energy into acoustic energy or produce electrical signals from absorbed sound waves.
Various applications, such as biomedical non-invasive diagnostics and non-destructive testing (NDT) of materials entail the use of transducer arrays, where the transducers are often configured in two-dimensions (that is, the X-Y plane). For example, ultrasonic transducer arrays are used in medical imaging, non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and other applications.
Applications such as medical and industrial imaging, NDE, security, baggage scanning, astrophysics and medicine may entail the use of transducers that encompass large areas. In the field of medical diagnostics, such as, but not limited to ultrasound and mammography, it may be desirable to employ transducers that encompass large areas. For instance, in an x-ray imaging system, large area transducers may be necessary to encompass the area of the x-ray detector.
In the field of NDT many inspection methods utilize a single contact sensor that only interrogates a small area of the structure. Generally, a skilled operator places the sensor on the structure and interprets the resulting waveform in order to detect defects. As a consequence, inspection of large areas may be extremely time consuming and defect detection may be difficult for structures that have a complex geometry. Despite recent advances in robotic scanning technology there exists a need for large area scanning systems.
The prerequisites for each application necessitating the use of large area transducers differ in size and shape. The complexities and costs associated with building a single transducer to encompass a large area can be very significant. Furthermore, there are limitations of the manufacturing technologies with regard to the maximum size of the large area transducer that can be profitably manufactured. Additionally, the expenses incurred while repairing the large area transducers may be considerable.
Arrays of transducers may be utilized to circumvent the problems associated with employing single large area transducers. The X-Y plane may be employed for assembling the transducer arrays to facilitate the construction of large area transducer arrays. However, such arrays can be very dense and necessitate a large quantity of control and amplifier electronics to drive the individual transducers of the array. Presently, the control and amplifier electronics employed to drive the individual transducers are also positioned in the X-Y plane resulting in a large footprint and potentially, gaps in the transducer area due to the need to locate electronics in or adjacent to the transducer. Furthermore, the density of input/output (I/O) required for coupling the individual transducers with the associated electronics may be very high. Also, the density of I/O may be too large for traditional interconnect strategies to handle. Presently, the interconnect lengths required to couple the transducer elements to the electronic device are very long. It would be desirable to minimize interconnect lengths in order to circumvent problems associated with longer interconnect lengths, such as, effects of capacitance, and degraded signal quality.
It would therefore be desirable to assemble large area transducer arrays in order to circumvent associated problems, such as, complexities and costs associated with manufacturing and repairing a single large area transducer. Furthermore, it would be desirable to position the associated electronics in close proximity to the individual transducer elements of the transducer array in order to minimize system size, complexity, interconnect lengths and enhance the performance of the transducer arrays.